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Love in the Stables
Plot Basic cliche horse related love story that no, I am not sorry for! Chapter one Naomi sighed. She had just escaped yet another one of Lancey's attempts to get her to have fun with her. She shuddered, before looking around. Somehow or other she had arrived at the Royal stables. Normally she would not have given it even a second glance as she headed back to the safety and solitude of her room, but this time, something caught her eye. Two men were leading a spindly colt to a mare. The mare looked like she wanted nothing to do with the baby, and fought against it, but the men were still trying to force a baby onto an unwilling mother. Something about the scene reminded her of being forced on to an unwilling Gwenyth when she was little, and it sickened her. "Stop!" She yelled, surprising both herself, and the men. She mustered up every bit of regal command she could and demanded: "What on earth do you think your doing?!" One of the men looked at her like she was the stupidest person on earth. "This colt's mother died after having him. This mare lost her colt. We're just trying to do them a favor." The other man shrugged. "It's what we always do." Naomi faltered for a second, before she declared: "It isn't working this time! She obviously doesn't want him!" "They'll both come around." The first man said. "Why are you getting so worked up about this anyway?" The second man cut in. "Hush Grimes and Skinner." A third voice came from the stables. She recognized him as the head groom. "Now Miss, we've got two options with this one. We force him onto the mare, or we let him die." He said gravely. That hurt Naomi's heart. "I'll look out for him." The head groom raised a bushy eyebrow. "Newborn foals take an awful lot of care." He warned. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes." Naomi declared, surprising herself. Grimes and Skinner shrugged, before moving to unload more of the horses from the trailers. The head groom tugged the mare away, leaving Naomi alone with the colt. "What am I going to do with you?" She whispered, stroking it's nose gently. "Yeah what are you going to do with him?" A voice jerked her out of her thoughts. It was young. She flipped her head around to face the source of the voice. It was a boy. "No offense Lady Naomi Orcades, but your way to delicate to handle a horse. I mean, look at your outfit." Naomi looked down at her skirt, fingered the fabric as she flushed crimson. She counted to three before regaining the regal. "You have me at a disadvantage young man. You know my name, I do not know yours." The boy chuckled. "Artie Stonely. Speaking of names, what's the horse's?" He asked. "Horse's name?" Naomi repeated. "Horse needs a name. Everybody needs a name." Artie said nonchalantly. Naomi tilted her head. "Dancer." She declared. Chapter two Naomi headed to the stables bright and early the next day. She tried to walk as quickly as possible, but kept getting slowed down, as she almost tripped. But made it she did, and all in one piece. She entered the stables and in the open stall she caught sight of her horse. (No matter how many times she referred to him as that it still seemed odd to her). Artie was with him. "Arthur, how's he doing?" She questioned quietly, but apparently not quietly enough as it made Artie jump. "He's doing fine, and I told you my name's Artie." He said without turning around. "Artie is short for Arthur." Naomi countered, nearing Dancer. "I like Artie better." "I don't." She said firmly, stroking Dancer's nose, smiling when Dancer made a pleased sounding whinny. "Why are you so..." Whatever Artie was going to say was lost as he finally turned around to face her. "What on earth are you wearing?" Naomi hated the way her cheeks flushed. "Proper attire to work with horses. After all, my previous clothing was not acceptable now was it?" "Those aren't yours. I can barely see you in it. Where'd you get them?" Artie demanded. Naomi flushed even darker, remembering. Launcer had gone to the throne room to speak with the king and queen. His room was empty, and no one would be coming this way any time soon. It was perfect. Naomi entered the room carefully, surveying the layout of the room, before making her way to his dresser. She smiled when she found what she was looking for. A old top and slacks, both so ratty she knew for a fact Launcer had promised to throw them out but he had just never gotten around to it. '' ''She frowned when she saw how big they were compared to her slim frail frame. She knew he was taller than her, practically everyone was taller than her, but she didn't know it was this bad. This would be harder than she thought. '' ''She stepped out of her skirt and peeled off her top, before stepping into the clothes. The shirt was more like a dress, and the slacks swam on her, ready to fall down should she move. She blew the air out of her lips so fast they vibrated, as she thought of what to do. She noticed the yellow velvet cord tying his drapes back and she removed it, tying it around her waist. She looked ridiculous, she knew that, but at least she had proper attire for working with horses. And there was no way Launcer would miss these. So she picked her clothes up and headed out. "You really expect to be able to work in that?" Arthur was saying. "I expect I will do my best." Naomi retorted, still keeping her polite mannerism. "What do you even know about horses?" "Not much." Naomi was honest. "But I am willing to learn." Artie smiled at her. He handed her a sort of bottle. "He was fine with me handling night shift for the feedings, but since the sun came up, he hasn't really been willing. Maybe you can try." Naomi took the bottle and tried to get him to take it, only to have it flung back at her. She fell backwards with a pout, mostly because Artie was enjoying this way too much, as evident by his laughing. When he finally caught his breath, he picked the bottle up, placed it in her hands, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and guiding her in the right way. Naomi was okay with this, just focusing on Dancer and feeding him, and was totally unaware of Arthur's beat red face behind her, as he was fully aware of their position. Chapter three This arrangement went on for about a month, before Artie was meant with some trouble. Today he had had the dream. The dream of him fulfilling the role he (quite literally) was made for. It wasn't a scary dream, that on it's own might have been pretty cool, if not for every scene he was fulfilling, it cut to a scene of Britta, the former princess's, life. And it was a horrible life. The dream always made him feel heavy and sad, and was actually grateful when he had to get up to feed Dancer. But when he fell back asleep, the dream continued right where it left off. He hated this. He didn't even do his chores, and instead opted for sitting next to Dancer in his stall. Jeremiah would understand, this didn't happen very often, so he was pretty lenient on the boy when it did. Dancer sniffed his hair, which earned a giggle. Artie's eyes shot open to see none other than high class Lady Orcades, still clad in the stupid clothes, laughing at him. He made a mental note to find clothes that better fit her. "That's cute." Naomi said, gesturing to the scene. Artie offered a quiet hum, it was the most response he could manage. "Something the matter?" She asked, going to get the bottle and prepare it. He shrugged. "You can cry if you want to," Naomi whispered so quietly he could barely hear her as she began to feed her horse. "What makes you think I want to cry?" Artie demanded, surprised she said something like that. Naomi didn't look away from the task at hand. "Forgive me for the assumption if that was rude, it's just, something seems to be bothering you, and you obviously don't feel you can tell me about it, because we are not that close. Understandable. The way to get that out is to cry if you want to...or rather, need to, because if you need to and you don't then it will eat you up and bad things will happen." She finished, setting the bottle down but refused to look at him. In a much quieter voice she whispered: "I know." Artie blinked. He closed his eyes and let a few tears fall. He didn't know why this dream happened. He didn't know why it showed him ruining people's lives. He didn't know why it happened the way it did, and he didn't know why it hurt him as much as it did. Maybe if he cried it would take the heaviness away. It was worth a shot. More tears streamed down his face, silent, but it felt good. Naomi finally finished bottle feeding Dancer, before turning to him. He wasn't a complete mess, like she turned into when she was crying, but rather he looked...regal almost, even when he cried. Dancer nudged her towards him slightly, throwing her off balance. She cleared her throat, before cupping his face in her small slim fingered hands. She blushed, but pushed that aside. She carefully wiped the some of the tears away. "Let yourself cry when you need to. I don't know what's bothering you, and you don't need to tell me. I won't judge." She whispered, summoning every motherly instinct she possessed, and hoping it sounded comforting. She was way out of her comfort zone. There was silence for a few minutes before Dancer headbutted Artie in the back, sending him sprawling on top of Naomi. "Oh my, please tell me your okay!" Artie said, getting off. He was so much bigger than Naomi, he was like a stallion and she was a butterfly. He really hoped he didn't hurt her. Naomi smiled thinly. "I'm fine Arthur. It would appear Dancer thinks we have forgotten him." The two blushed, Naomi faintly, Artie darkly, as they paid attention to the young horse. Something was different this time. It took Artie a moment to realize what it was. He felt lighter. The heaviness had melted away. Naomi was right. All he needed to do was cry. But how had she known about it? Chapter four Naomi yawned hugely as she entered the stables the next day. Things had been a little crazy(er than usual) at dinner time the night before, and she hadn't been able to get much sleep, due it carrying much later into the night than usual. As she entered the stables, she could hear Artie arguing with someone in hushed tones. If she wanted to, she probably could have figured out who he was talking to and what he was saying, but her mind was too sluggish to fully comprehend it, and she didn't even try. She stumbled against the door to Dancer's stall, alerting the hyperactive horse of her arrival, and also the stable boy. He entered the stall. "Are you alright?" He asked, noticing how tired she looked. "I'm fine Arthur." She said, swallowing a yawn. He gave her a look that read "doubt it." "I think we'll be able to wean him in a few weeks, so then we don't have to keep bottle feeding him. I think he's getting close to being ready," He said, wisely dropping the previous subject. "I thought you did that around six months." Naomi said, stroking her horse's head lazily. "Depends on when he's ready. And just think, in a year and a half you'll be able to ride him! That is, once someone breaks him in." She frowned at him, but in her exhausted state, she ended up looking like a puppy. A very cute puppy, making Artie swallow nervously. "I'll break him in when he's old enough." She declared. "You can teach me how to, and I will do it." Artie stared at her. "Bad idea Naomi, I mean, look at you!" "What about me?" Naomi retorted. "Your tiny! How can you break in a horse when I'm pretty sure I can pick you up with little to no effort?!" Artie exploded. Naomi clenched her fists as she buried her face in Dancer's mane. "First it was my outfit now my size? Don;t judge me before you see me in action Arthur." She mumbled. "That's not what I meant..." He began, before remembering what he had gotten for her. "I'll be right back." He stood up and practically skipped out of the room. He wasn't gone for more than ten minutes, but when he entered, a bundle of clothing in his hands, he was meant with quite possibly the most precious sight ever. Naomi had fallen asleep leaning partially on Dancer, one hand tangled up in his mane. Artie carefully put down the clothes, before moving over and gently picking Naomi up. There was no way she could sleep like that, she'd wake up with an ache in her neck and back. What he did not expect was for the poor girl to sigh and practically melt against him. "I knew it." He whispered, presumably to Dancer. "I can totally pick her up." Artie brought Naomi carefully to the pallet bed that he or his grandfather laid on when their was sick horses, or orphan horses at the stables or they just stayed here too late. He;d been using it every night since Dancer was born, and it was pretty comfortable. He placed her down gently before walking away. "What no good night kiss?" Jeremiah teased gently, laughing at his grandson's blush. "That, that, isn't...I don't...Jeremiah!" He moaned, burying his face in his hands. "I don't like her that way." "sure you don't." Jeremiah teased. "And if I did, which I don't, she doesn't like me that way, and I don't want to kiss her without her consent." Artie protested. "But apparently picking her up and carrying her without her knowing is fine." Jeremiah said. "She's so exhausted." Artie protested feebly, looking back at the sleeping girl. "I'll give her the outfit when she wakes up. Until then, Dancer's going to have to deal with me bottle feeding him." Chapter five Naomi slept placidly and without dreams for about an hour and a half. When she awoke, she didn't realize why she did or where she was for a few seconds. Then she figured out the answer to both when she heard Artie plead again. "Come on Dancer, Naomi needs to sleep. She can't feed you right now!" Naomi chuckled as she made her way to them. The sight that meant her eyes made her burst into delighted laughter. And not the polite lady like, delicate giggle she usually did, but full blown belly laughs that made her double in two laughing and laughing. But could you blame her? Artie had just gotten the bottle smacked back in his face, and both he and Dancer were coated in muck from the bottom of the stall. Artie had a puppy like pout on his lips and Dancer's eyes showed defiance. Artie turned to her, his pout melting away and instead a shocked expression decorated his face. Naomi had never laughed like that around him. It made him feel light and warm, but also heavy at the same time. It was strange. He shook his head. "It's not that funny." He protested feebly. Naomi held one hand up as she tried to catch her breath. When she did she said: "I never imagined a stable boy would struggle with a horse." "He's totally fine with me feeding at night. I don't know why he doesn't when the sun's up." Artie pouted again, making him look cute, even covered in muck. "Because this horse has two loving parents and he wants to spend equal amount of times with them." Jeremiah cut in, making the two of them blush bright red. "Jeremiah!" He hissed. Then he cleared his throat. "Jeremiah this is Lady Naomi Orcades. Naomi, this is Jeremiah. My grandfather." "Oh the little miss and I have meant." Jeremiah said, looking amused. "Why don't you try feeding him? Then you two should get cleaned up." Naomi nodded towards the head groom, than she fed Dancer, who was submissive towards her. "Oh come on!" Artie moaned. Chapter six Two weeks past, and Artie was pacing the stables. He shouldn't be so nervous, yet nervous he was. The reason was simple, an outfit he held in his hands. Every morning he was so sure he'd give it to her, than he'd psyche himself out of it when he saw her coming. "It's been two weeks since you bought it for her. Give it to her already!" Jeremiah said exasperatedly. "She might not like it..." "Used that excuse last week. Besides, you'll never know unless you try." "It might not fit her..." Artie tried again. "Yes it will. Remember? I got her size from the Queen?" Jeremiah said smugly. He was close with the royal family, and he sometimes, if rarely, liked to abuse that power. "What if she throws it back in my face?!" Artie yelled, thinking he got the last word. He froze when he heard: "What if who throws what back in your face?" Naomi had entered without him realizing. "Um..." He hesitated, resulting in Jeremiah literally shoving him forward. Artie opened his mouth, then caught sight of her outfit. It was the skirt and top combo she had been wearing when she rescued Dancer. Seeing his questioning look, Naomi explained: "The clothes were claimed." It was early the previous evening. Naomi had just returned to the castle, and became face to face with Launcer. '' ''"Are those my clothes?" "Uh..." "i mean, Naomi if you wanted to borrow them you could have just asked. I just thought they wouldn't fit you." "Uh huh." Naomi nodded, smile strained as she tried to get away from him. "Naomi is that the cord for my drapes? Okay, what have you been up too?" Naomi smiled back at Artie. "They weren't mine." "I figured. Um, here!" He shoved the clothes at her. She blinked and held them up. There was a long tunic-like shirt, navy blue with white buttons, and faded jeans. There was a brown woven leather belt, and brown boots. "You bought these for me?" She whispered. Taking that as a bad sign, Artie rambled: "I hope they fit, and that you like them. I just figured it was about time you needed your own clothes and not those too big for you clothes that you had to tie with a cord and could hardly move in...' He was cut off from his rambling by small, thin arms embracing him. "Thank you Arthur." She breathed.. "N-no problem." Artie swallowed. She pulled away, her face red, though not as red as one would have thought. Hugging him had felt right. She shook off that thought as she went to get changed. Chapter seven A month had passed, and Naomi approached the stables with a spring in her step. She didn't know why she was in such a good mood, she just was, and this time she didn't even bother being careful, she was dressed in the clothes Arthur had gotten for her, and had left the palace that way. Was it really any surprise that someone noticed? Even more so, was it really any surprise that they decided to spy on her? "You know you don't have to come here every single day now." Artie commented as soon as he saw her. What he had wanted to say, was how unusual it was to see her so happy and wanting to know what made her so happy, but instead he just told her she didn't have to come. As soon as those words left his mouth, he could see her mood deflate. "I was not aware I was not welcome now that Dancer is weaned." Said horse bounded over to her, nuzzling her hand until she pet his nose. "That's not...that's not what I meant." Great! Living with only his grandfather his whole life apparently left some of his "talking to girls others, skills" either lacking or nonexistent. He did realize when she said that that they way he said that made it seem like he didn't want her here, which in reality, now that she had been coming by every day for so long, he was used to her and would miss her presence if she stopped. "Well forgive me Arthur." Naomi's voice dripped with sarcasm as she went to get Dancer's food. "I do not know how else to take that." "It's just, your a lady. Like, a high born lady, your aunt and uncle are the king and queen and you live in the palace. Surely you have something else you'd rather be doing, somewhere other than a smelly stable you'd rather be..." Now Naomi sort of understood. He didn't want her to feel like she was forced to be here. Did he really think she'd prefer spending time with Arzh and Gwenyth? The poor boy was hopelessly delusional. In a quiet voice, hand still on Dancer, she began to lecture him. "Arthur Stonely I may be the niece of the king and queen, but have you forgotten who Morgause was? The royal family doesn't exactly like me because of my supposed "reputation" and if I stay in the palace all day, I'll be either lectured or gossiped about. And maybe you think that's worth it, worth it to live in such a hug, elaborate, beautiful place, but no. It's not. I would much rather be here, in the stables, with Dancer, with...with you, then in that palace. And maybe it's stupid and childish for me to say this but this is my safe spot and the closest thing I have to home so don't think I don't want to be here!" Artie just let her finish her rant, something indescribable on his face. Then he reached out, noticing her flinch. He carefully cradled her face in his hands, smiling at her. "Okay, okay, sorry for jumping to conclusions." They were silent, until Dancer let out a whinny, forcing both to turn away from each other and see what he wanted. "Is your family really like that?" Artie ventured. "What can I say? No one really loves me." Naomi's usual beautiful smile had a bit of a bitter edge. How to respond to that? "Maybe you don't let them?" Again, silence filled the air, until there was the sound of a door slamming. "BUSTED!!!" Chapter eight "Ooh I knew it, I knew it! I knew you were hiding something!" "Hello Lancey." Naomi spoke calmly. In all honesty, sneaking around, stealing Launcer's clothes, how could she expect ''not ''to be found? At least it was Lancey and not Arzh or Gwenyth, she had a chance of surviving this one. "What have you been doing here?" Lancey demanded. "Um...princess?" He wasn't really sure if that was the correct title, but a higher amount of respect than actually due usually was the best option when he didn't know titles. "Hi, I'm Artie, the stable boy..." He spoke, trying to direct some of what he was perceiving as anger, but in reality was just Lancey being Lancey, on to him and not Naomi. "Yeah, my problem's not with you, Naomi!" Lancey began again, glaring at the girl. "Where did you get that outfit and what have you been doing here?! Not that the outfit looks bad, you look great in it, but it's not your normal style..." "Lancey!" Naomi hadn't meant to be that loud, she just knew that when Lancey got on a rant, it was hard to get her off of it. "I've been learning how to take care of a horse." Dancer whinnied as he stepped nearer to Lancey, as if to confirm Naomi's statement. Lancey's mouth opened, then shut like a fish for a few seconds. "Okay I'll be honest that's not what I thought you were going to say. Why?" "Because it's something every lady should know. And what did you think I was going to say?" Artie forgot about Lady Naomi Orcades, in the stables she was just Naomi now, so it was kind of humorous to see her automatically revert to this mode when talking to her "cousin." "Well you know, you, and I knew their was a stable boy...a few make ou..." "Lancey!" Naomi cut her off. "What? Half the kingdom has been in love with you at some point or the other, I just thought you finally reciprocated..." "''Goodbye ''Princess." Artie didn't want to hear about how many people in the kingdom loved Naomi, that was doing strange things to his insides, and insinuating that they were in love, that was just wrong! He could hear Jeremiah laughing from the office, but his grandfather would of course never be any help in this scenario. "Ok, I'll leave, stable boy, but I need you both to know that this is cute and I ship it." "Princess!" He blushed. "Tell no one about this!!! And there's nothing to ship!" Naomi yelled, her own face painted a bright red.Category:Original Character Fanfiction Category:Cerisefan03's Fanfiction